Good Water Canyon Rim Trail, San Rafael Swell, September 24, 2021

Stunning! The continuous, overwhelming view in these few photos does not begin to convey the deep sense of Divinity experienced today. I’m told that God can only be found in a church, but men can’t replicate this. The Segrada Familia in Barcelona comes the closest, but still, a large gap of separation remains.  

The ride footprint. The outer-ring are the roads ridden counter-clockwise, the jagged inner-ring is the rim trail single-track, which was ridden clockwise.

Main Trailhead, we parked here then rode/biked westward (left) on the road to ride the Rim trail in a clockwise direction. (Roads ridden counter-clockwise, single-track ridden clockwise).

Statistics
                                                                                                                                                
Lap                                                                                                        Time        Miles     Ascent   Descent
                                                                                                                                                  (ft)     (ft)
Main TH to Wedge Overlook, 2-track                                                 19:56         2.82         305        30
Wedge Overlook to Good Water Rim Trail                                           8:36           .93           36        39
Rim trail to Main TH                                                                        1:15:10         8.23         190      479
Lunch at truck                                                                                      12:39            -                -           -
From truck at Main TH to East TH on Rim Trail                             1:11:28           7.1         322      118
From East TH on road back to truck at Main TH                                12:58           2.87         59      243   

                                                            Totals                                     3:20:49         22.02       912      909
                                                            Moving Time                        2:19:18
Average Speed     9.5mph
Max Speed         22.6mph
Max Elevation     6,219 ft
Min Elevation     5,904 ft

We parked here at the Main Trailhead, which is in the middle of the rim trail, starting from here rather than at either end of the rim trail only to shorten the road commutes at the start and end of our ride. We’re seen here dressing and gearing-up before starting the ride. To start, we pedaled west from on the the road to the west trailhead, a quick 3.75 mile ride (per Garmin) on a wide, smooth, rolling double-track to the west to start the single-track at the Wedge Overlook. Midway through the Rim Trail we stopped here for a few minutes to reload water, eat some sugar, drop unneeded layers, then back to the single track, continuing our eastward (clockwise) loop.

View at the Wedge Overlook, where the single-track Rim Trail starts.

The Little Grand Canyon looks pretty damn huge to me. 

Brett, a month away from retirement, and always game for anything outdoors and he never quits anything first. When back-country skiing he keeps doing laps until everyone else has pulled out headlamps and  started down to the trailhead. It was the same when we were younger and really into climbing and alpinism. Snowing and slippery rock at 13,000 feet, and Brett was still climbing upwards when I’d be making excuses about going home because I was cold and all my clothes were soaked. It’s aggravating to  ALWAYS be the quitter on the team. 

It’s called the Little Grand Canyon for good reason. It is one of those places that you hear about with too many adjectives, but given the source of most cyclists, the blather is quickly dismissed. But when you go, you are shocked, the real thing is absolutely stunning, expectations are completely annihilated because no photos or sappy-writing comes close to conveying the beauty.  

It’s not called the Little Grand Canyon without reason. Man-made structures all fail to inspire me like our natural world does, contrary to what I’m told at church. If God does dwell in a man-made structure, my vote goes to the Bascilica de la Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona, Espana, designed by Antoni Gaudi. An immense forrest of stone, light and color.

Big Mountain to Swallow Rocks, August 2, 2021

 

Grandview Peak (9,410 ft.) is the distant, high-point on the left-middle skyline, as seen from the Great Western Trail (GWT), about a mile north of Big Mountain (7,420 ft.). The near high-point on the right doesn’t have a name so I’ll call it Swallow Rocks Peak (8,910 ft.), the Swallow Rocks are located in the SE facing bowl just below the peak. Zoom in and you can see them. The Great Western Trail roughly follows  the ridges, seen here along the right, over to Sessions Pass, then along the 4x4 double track over to Skyline Drive above Bountiful. In comparison to Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons, the GWT is the last undiscovered trail in the Wasatch, it gets very little traffic, no over-flow parking, and no masses of humanity shuffling along like the checkout-line at Walmart. 

The plan was to hike from Big Mountain Pass (7,410 ft.) to Grandview Peak (9,410 ft.)  and back, a distance of 8.6 miles one-way, 17.2 miles round trip. I got a late start, arriving at Big Mountain Pass after 2pm, and then sat in the truck for about 45 minutes due to lightning. I’m fine hiking in the rain, but the lightning is much more threatening and the risk was worse up on the trail because it sticks to ridges and peaks for miles. When I started hiking there was still a light shower, but the flashes and thunder were off in the distance so I presumed it was safe.  About two miles up the trail the air became prickly and I could feel static electricity on my arms, then BOOM! I was in the bulls-eye for another round of lightning. I quickly descended off the exposed ridge and hid under a Mt. Mahogony in a small draw just off the ridge.  I sat there for five minutes then started running again. The lightning seemed more distant. I’m not a patient person, I can’t sit still for long, so as soon as the storm hinted at diminishing, I got going. There were a few more bolts of lighing that were way too close, and I questioned why I was doing this, but I kept heading towards Grandview. 

About four miles in I came to a rounded pass on the ridge. There was well-tread, double track heading right/north, and a very faint single track heading left/west. There was a beat-up old sign at the junction stating “No bicycles allowed in City Creek Canyon, Stay on Great Western Trail.”  I presumed the well used trail was the Great Western Trail so I went right. Half a mile down the double track I could see the road was leading me down towards Morgan so I knew I took the wrong turn. To be sure I pulled out the map and, sure enough, that narrow, over-grown trail a half mile back was the real Great Western Trail. By now it was late afternoon and I realized if I was going to Grandview, I’d be coming out in the dark. I had a headlamp but, after taking the wrong turn in full daylight, I realized my day was done. To tag Grandview I need to start early, without a storm, and consult the map when I’m wasn’t sure. Don’t make assumptions. 

I ran back the half mile to the junction of the faint trail, took a left/west and ran another half mile to just below the Swallow Rocks. I pulled out the map and confirmed that this was the correct trail. Now familiar with the route to Grandview but, running out of time, I turned around and headed back to the truck. Grandview will wait for another day.

Stats:        

Total Miles:        10.39

Elevation Gain:  2,461 feet

High Point (Swallow Rocks turn-around):     8,485 feet

Low Point (Big Mountain Pass):                    7,422 feet

Total Time:         3:39:40

Moving Time:    2:52:04

People:

- 2 hikers at mile 1 (per my trip odmeter),  headed S to Big Mtn Pass; 

- 2 ATV’ers at mile 3, headed SE back to East Canyon Resort;

- 1 runner at mile 4, headed N to Big Mtn Pass; 

- 1 E-biker/packer at mile 8, headed N, saying he was camping near the Swallow Rocks.     

First view of Grand View (distant high point, middle of pic) from just above the Big Mt. Pass switchbacks.

View north about a mile above Big Mtn. Pass

Typical Great Western Trail, rolling along the ridges between Sessions and Big Mtn. Pass.

Grandview

View south from the Great Western Trail, near the Swallow Rocks turn-off.  Grandeur Peak the pointy peak on the right, Mt. Olympus to the left of Grandeur, Wildcat Ridge the toothy ridge left of Mt. Olympus, and Broads Fork Twins on the far left. 

Great Western Trail, view north about two miles north of Big Mtn. Pass.

I had to jump out of the way to avoid getting flattened by two ATV’s coming out of East Canyon Resort.

Swallow Rocks straight ahead. I incorrectly took the wrong trail, seen here traversing the hillside on the right. The Great Western Trail traverses left/west on the open slopes below the Swallow Rocks. 

Back on the right track, Swallow Rocks come into focus. 

Yeah, I’m a smarty. I missed the “Great Western Trail” suggesting the faint trail leading under the Swallow Rocks, assuming the heavily used double track was the right way, out of view here but just to the right of photo.  

Wrong way.

Wrong way, leading me towards Morgan.

Heading back to the Swallow Rocks junction, through the Aspens, then a hard right at the next ridge. 

Mountains, my pot of gold. 

Swallow Rocks

More Swallow Rocks, small hole in the second rib.

Grandview from near the Swallow Rocks. I was still about 4 miles from the summit, so I turned back here. 

Going back, view south, Big Mountain is the peak in middle of the photo with the brown, double-track going over the top.